Press Pause Preview: HYPERYuki: Snowboard Syndicate

If you're a fan of games such as SSX, Jet Set Radio, or Cool Boarders, you've likely heard the buzz around HYPERyuki, an extremely vibrant and stylized ode to these platformers and boarding gems from the late 90s and early 2000s.

You might have also heard about additional excitement in late spring and early summer, when Acclaim shared a new trailer and offered previews of the work in progress. The release date (as of now) is still in the "Coming Soon" category on Steam. And, honestly, it's probably for the best that we're still waiting to get this just right.

HYPERyuki lets players embrace the snow in full force (possibly even more times than you might want to, depending on your skill level) as they wander about, wade through challenges, and win races in a heated (or cooled, I suppose in this case) gauntlet against up to six additional opponents. The greatest highlight thus far, akin to being an almost direct ode to the JSR aesthetic, is easily the Chromatic Carnival that players experience almost immediately. And don't even get me started on the whimsy of playing as a Godzilla-esque kaiju, some sort of taco elemental, and (my personal favorite) the boarder known as "Goth," who offers exactly what she promises.

Like its predecessors in the genre, it feels instantly rewarding to land jumps, pull off twists, and not spend the majority of your race tasting snow every 10 to 15 seconds. The concept feels like an instant win, and HYPERyuki shows all the promise in the world through its premise of exploring new tracks through (hopefully not too difficult) achievements and unlocking additional characters to add in some extra spice.

Now for the tough part: since this was a hands-on preview and was nowhere near (or so we can assume, especially now) finished at this stage, it's essential to state that it still needs a good deal of polish. For starters, I cannot overstate how many times I found myself clipping through the ground if I took the wrong hill at the wrong speed -- even more so than other similar games (I definitely experienced my share of this issue in Cool Boarders back in the day). Most of this, though, came from trying to overcompensate with the camera view via the right analog stick. This was, however, remedied almost instantly after switching from "Cinematic" to "Arcade" mode in the gameplay menu, but still—it almost felt easier to finish races and beat challenges by ignoring the manual camera altogether and letting the auto-camera do the heavy lifting.

I also found it extremely easy to get stuck in certain bends or corners if I attempted to correct too late, which made some races feel next to impossible. Call it a skill issue as well, but the grind ability also feels like less of a feature and more of an achievement if you can actually nail it.

As someone who previously enjoyed both the sleek, vibrant aesthetics from JSR and the reward of actually performing successful tricks in the Cool Boarders series, it does appear that HYPERyuki scratches that nostalgic itch well. What will remain to be seen is whether its depth and development can keep up with some of the biggest fans upon its (eventual) release.

HYPERyuki from Acclaim and Wabisabi, Inc. is still slated as "Coming Soon" on Steam.